Thursday, September 9, 2010

Sufjan EP, Julian Lynch "Mare"

Emusic makes me stoopid sometimes. I took a risk on these two darlings and I crapped out. I have most of Sufjan Stevens' prior records (except for BQE, I couldn't stomach that concept). This new one just doesn't do it for moi. Some long-ass songs that sound... well... long. The tweeness just ring hollow this time. On some of he previous efforts, there's real emotion (I know cheesy, but true). I don't get that here.

The Julian Lynch record, "Mare," suffers a bit from the same thing, it just feels calculated. According to wankfork, he's going to be collaborating with Kanye--I'm not sure what that says, but it says something. I should say, however, that this one has a chance to grow on me. I kind of despised the big Bon Iver record the first 4-5 times I listened to it, now I love it.

On the same emusic binge I bought The 'Mats "Don't Tell a Soul" and the Wilco/Bragg "Mermaid Avenue" thingamajig. "Don't Tell a Soul" was kind of disparaged when it came out, but dang it aged well. The Wilco/Bragg thing isn't as good as I remember it being, but the song "One by One" is an all-timer, worth the price of admission.